Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Welcome Back... 2012!!

First day back to school, first day together this year, and first meetings of the year for Danny and Juan! What a great beginning friends! Danny started our day off with one very efficient, early morning meeting! Nice job Danny... I could tell right then and there that it was going to be a great day! We introduced our new word study principle, digraph sh, and generated word lists, paying close attention to where the "sh" was within the word (beginning, middle, or end)! Well done friends! In writing workshop we learned how to use think sheets (graphic organizers) to help organize our writing. Especially handy when you're not sure what you even want to write about! Also great to help remember all the important parts of a particular story (sequencing events and including important details)! Many used think sheets today, and used them well! Ms. Worthley pointed out the difference between the kind of writing on a think sheet (ideas, thoughts, perhaps incomplete sentences), and the kind of writing in a story (complete sentences with capitals and punctuation)! Well done writers, especially those who used your think sheets today! We checked out our new book display, full of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stories, and enjoyed reading many of these books today! Quiet reading went very well, and while there were few reading groups today, we did make sure to enjoy our quiet reading time (even if we had to tuck it in this afternoon)! In math we reviewed place value and practiced our High, Low, Middle game with playing cards! Students first worked alone (good practice) then partnered and worked cooperatively with peers! I must say, for our first day back, we were remarkably focused and on task! Now THAT'S how you start a new year of learning, with effort, and focus! Well done! Juan ended our math block with his first math meeting of the year and it was great! Well done Juan, paying close attention to every detail... days in school, calendar (yes, he even remembered to say 2012), money and weather graph! Nice job Juan! We ended our day with an All School Sing in the cafeteria hosted by Mr. Hines! It was sort of like a "dance-sing", really. Starting with the Macarana, we followed with Yellow Submarine (a favorite) and many more! Great day friends! Keep up the good work tomorrow! Solid start for 2012 second graders!